So, I picked up a bunch of older sets. I love the Atlantis textures, so I'm seeing how well they can be applied to a TLX format. Of course, once I got started, I realized I still have to make swords for my boys for Halloween, so I cut my experimenting short. I got one wall done:

I think it will look good with a column texture on the posts. The tricky part is filling in the walls when there are textures that don't easily repeat... In this case, I shrunk the wall down to 600px high (from 900px) and then had a bunch of horizontal space to fill in. I moved the columns over to the edges, and moved the painted lady over as far as I could to either side. Then I copied her, flipped her, and spent some time cloning textures to try to obscure the fact that it's a total copy. It's still pretty obvious what I copied, but hey ... gotta get those costumes ready!

That's the back side of the wall. Much easier than the other...

Love the textures! I want to make one 6" tile, some posts, and then a TLX roof out of the textures available, just so I have a little room done - something maybe my kids will stumble on when they accidentally run The Maiden into some rocks...

Well, if something good has come from the recent storm, it's that my office is without power, so I've got the day off. I'm doing some test prints now, but I think the pillars are looking a-ok, and I've got five 6" walls done so far. I'm gonna make cutfiles for the walls, then I will move right over to making roof pieces... I'll post pics as soon as I've assembled a couple walls.

Don't put the pillars onto the walls at all, really, except maybe the decoration on the top. The the anchor post be the entire pillar and take advantage of the TLX design conceit.

Good point! I'm knee deep in cutting out some test files (with pillars on the walls) but after I get a roof in place, I will try this out. I already have a bunch of pillars ready for that idea... I had put the textures on "backwards" relative to my current wall textures...

I think I need to move the pillars out on the walls so they aren't so cramped against the post. I think that'll make a good bit of difference. Other than that, I like it.

Looks like a good concept. Lots of folks would find the conversion very helpfull.

The 2d pillar graphics next to the 3d pillar/TLX posts looks out of place. Maybe use just the plain posts or remove the pillar graphics at the corners. The outside pillar wall has the same out of place look at the corners. Just aesthetics, though. Very good work on the set.

OK. Last update for the afternoon - kids are coming home from school now...

I didn't have to do much to the roof... let me rephrase... I chose not to do much to the roof. I had to make the roof taller than the texture provided, but that's what the clone tool is for! Mwah hah ha ha...

I was rushing to finish the end trusses, but I really like how they turned out. I used the same pattern on both sides... Not sure if I like that idea, or if I'll change it to something else.

So, now I'll get back to the walls and those columns. I don't want to do round posts just yet. The top and base of the columns should be square anyway (in my opinion at least), and I think it'll be too time consuming a prop to make lots of. No, I'll stick with the TLX geometry. I'm going to start with Jaynz's comment - I'll remove the column textures from the edges of the walls, and I'll reverse the textures on the posts so it'll look more like a single free-standing column. I think. I'll try a couple things, and post pics as they are built to solicit feedback.

I *might* just make the posts out of stone, and remove the columns from the sides of the walls. I'll still have a wall of columns, and I'll have a 3d prop if you want more. Maybe that'll be the way to go... Just gotta play around...

The other advantage of making the columns/posts into free-standing versions is that you can have free-standing columns for your maps! Seems obvious, I know, but when you think of all the ruined sites, etc., some free-standing corner-columns work out really well.

I never printed this set due to not getting around to having a use for it until after TLX released. I then greatly desired someone with some ability to go through the conversion process. I hope that these conversions can find their way to some form of a release. Great work so far!

Personally, I don't hold the bashes to the same level of perfection I hold the paid sets to. Anyone who does a bash that is pretty good or fairly close to the original or the paid sets has my gratitude. Given my very basic computer, ah, skills, and my total lack of graphic ability, I just look in awe. Thanks to all the bash builders, my gratitude.

Well, tonight was a bit demoralizing. I just can't get the posts to look right. I did up a wall without pillars on the ends, and tried to wrap the pillars around the post, but it's just not looking right. I'm gonna take a step back and maybe try again tomorrow or Sunday, and see what I think.

Personally, I don't hold the bashes to the same level of perfection I hold the paid sets to. Anyone who does a bash that is pretty good or fairly close to the original or the paid sets has my gratitude. Given my very basic computer, ah, skills, and my total lack of graphic ability, I just look in awe. Thanks to all the bash builders, my gratitude.

I think I've settled on a design for the posts that I can live with! At least, for 2-way posts. Haven't tried other posts yet. Gonna get em edged along with a couple more walls, and I'll snap some shots.

OK. Photos. Y'all can peek, but no more comments on the posts... I'm happy enough with them that I will move on to railings, walkways, and round pillar props to support them.

When put together as a set, it really doesn't jump out at you like it does if you are, say, taking crummy snapshots that FOCUS ON THE POST... I'm really hoping full size posts will look a-ok (in my eyes) too.

Last edited by mproteau on 11-02-2012, 06:59 PM, edited 1 time in total.

I own this set (built the Kracken only) and, for storage reasons have never built the rest. This kitbash would change that as I could add this to my collection of "will use someday, and it stores flat, so I'll build it..." pieces.

Oh - the posts? They're inspirational: I am so going to do my own cut-file that removes some of the black and glue on a reverse inside for strength and aesthetics. I think the'll look like actual posts!

Oh - the posts? They're inspirational: I am so going to do my own cut-file that removes some of the black and glue on a reverse inside for strength and aesthetics. I think the'll look like actual posts!

So, I tried something for fun in the process of settling on this post style... I actually tried maybe five or six different ideas. One idea was to make the interior of the post textured properly, and to cut the black area away so you could see through them a bit. Then, I trimmed the tabs on the sides of the walls down to the right shape and textured them to look like pillars, so when inserted, they'd blend in with the pillars.

It seemed to have potential, but it was a lot of modifications just for posts. I really needed to move on. The pillar textures needed to be changed a little, because the way I textured them, you could see the tile anchors peeking through. Also, with so much cut out of the pillars, they were very weak at the corners. Of the two I cut, two of them split while I tinkered with them.

If it motivates other people to try stuff out, though, I'd love to see what people can come up with! I wrote up a list of pieces I want to convert for me to feel like this is "complete" and it's a pretty long list, so I don't want to get too bogged down on just one piece. Walkways and railings are coming along slowly...

Here are pics of support pieces to hold walkways (and buildings) up:The idea of round columns is appealing, but from a TLX build-quickly-and-store-flat perspective, I decided to start here. They just slip together:I don't know - maybe walkways will really just end up resting on pillar walls with posts at each end, and I won't need these at all. But, I kinda like having them around as an option.

I'm happy enough with these as-is, though I will probably end up changing the slots on the 2-column pieces so there's one slot on top, and one on the bottom. That'll make all 2-column pieces identical.

I'm gonna double-back now and make some 6" floor tiles and a couple more walkway pieces... Then, I clearly need some beach tiles!

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